page_title: Bob Barr 2008 presidential campaign
section_title: Final stages
hierarchical_section_title: Bob Barr 2008 presidential campaign / General election campaign / Final stages
caption_attribution_description: English: Bob Barr, Libertarian candidate for US President, speaks at Carnegie Mellon University in October 2008.
context_page_description: The 2008 presidential campaign of Bob Barr, former Congressman of Georgia began on May 12, 2008. He announced his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's presidential after months of grassroots draft efforts. Barr was criticized by Libertarians who opposed his efforts in Congress, which included a vote in favor of the USA PATRIOT Act and authorization of the War in Iraq, but he was supported by others who accepted his regret for the votes. Barr won the party's nomination after six rounds of balloting at the 2008 Libertarian Party National Convention. Former contender Wayne Allyn Root was named as his running mate. Reason magazine senior editor Radley Balko called Barr "the first serious candidate the LP has run since I've been eligible to vote."
  In the general election, Barr hoped to portray himself as a conservative alternative to the Republican nominee John McCain. He emphasized his opposition to the Republican Party for its positions on the War in Iraq and the USA PATRIOT Act, but stood as an advocate for border security and fiscal constraint, demonstrated by his opposition to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
context_section_description: As September began, commentator Greg Pierce of The Washington Times noted that the "grass-roots enthusiasm for [Barr's] candidacy seems to have faded a bit in the wake of individualist Governor Sarah Palin joining the Republican ticket."
  It was announced at a press conference on September 10, 2008 that former Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul would give his open endorsement to Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin, Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney, independent Ralph Nader, and Barr, in opposition to the Republican and Democratic Parties' nominees. Barr chose not to attend the event, and his name was not included in the final statement released by the other candidates. Paul had previously made favorable comments about Barr's campaign, leaving the candidate to feel that he alone should have received the endorsement. Later that day, it was revealed that Barr had earlier offered the Libertarian vice-presidential nomination to Paul, via a letter. The letter stated that Barr's current running mate, Wayne Allyn Root, would willingly step down should Paul accept the offer. A spokesman for the Paul campaign called Barr's offer "terribly interesting", but added that Paul had no intentions of running on a third party ticket. Ron Paul dropped his endorsement of Barr on September 22, citing the candidate's criticism of his earlier endorsements. Paul opted to instead support Chuck Baldwin's candidacy. Barr received $252,383 of donations in September, which was slightly more than the $224,350 the campaign raised in August.
  On the dawn of the final month of campaigning, Barr appeared on National Public Radio, and discussed his political positions, including those on health care, a topic that had rarely been discussed by Barr over the course of his campaign. Barr gave his shortest response to the issue, saying that "everybody ought to be able to get health care, but that's up to them..." and went on to say that "the government could be...reducing and removing the onerous regulations that actually prevent people from being able to afford health care." Close to the end of the campaign, Barr's polling numbers remained stagnant. An Associated Press-GfK poll from late October placed the candidate at 1% nationally, the same figure he had stood at three weeks previously.
caption: Bob Barr speaks in October 2008.
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